DHAKA: Pakistan cricket team lead by new captain Azhar Ali will take on Bangladesh on Friday (today) as kick start three-match ODI series in Dhaka.
The match will start at 4:30 am in Shere Bangla National Stadium, Dhaka while ODI skipper Azhar Ali will lead Pakistani team while Mashrafe Mortaza would lead Bangladeshi side.
In this bilateral cricket series both teams will play two Tests, three ODIs matches and one Twenty-20.
The green shirts are not short of talented players going into the series but they are certainly short of a genuine leg-spinner, with Shahid Afridi retired from the format and a hand injury ruling out Yasir Shah from the battle.
The Pakistani team will go into an international match without Afridi and Misbah Ul Haq for the first time in years as duo have announcement their retirement from ODI which can provide young talent to show their balance.
The green team have lost three players before start of the series due to injuries, first was Sohaib Maqsood, followed by Sohail Khan and then Yasir Shah.
Despite this, newly-appointed captain Azhar Ali will be looking forward to the challenge; focused on seeing the side through the transition period.
Veteran Zulfiqar Babar will fill in for Yasir in an experienced spin attack which also includes Saeed Ajmal.
Pakistan will be helped by the dynamic quartet of Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali and Ehsan Adil.
All-rounder Saad Nasim and middle-order batsman Muhammad Rizwan are likely to make their ODI debuts, while Asad Shafiq may have to sit out the match.
Saad, who is also a leg-spinner, has already played three T20Is for Pakistan, while Rizwan took part in the warm-up game against BCB XI, in which he scored 18 runs.
Skipper Azhar Ali is likely to open with Muhammad Hafeez, while Sarfraz Ahmed would be asked to bat in the middle-order again.
ODI Squads
Pakistan : Azhar Ali (capt), Sami Aslam, Sarfraz Ahmed, Muhammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Muhammad Rizwan, Haris Sohail, Saad Nasim, Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil, Junaid Khan
Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Tamim Iqbal, Rony Talukdar, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Shakib alHasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Abul Hasan
